(More can be found at www.avoiceforchoiceadvocacy.org/sb-276. Please share.)
This is the second email in a series answering questions A Voice for Choice Advocacy has gotten about SB276/SB714. This email addresses “What happens if MY child has a grandfathered Medical Exemption and transfers from one school to another in 2020 or beyond?”
Checkpoints for vaccines are when a child enters school for the first time, TK/Kindergarten (considered the same checkpoint) and 7th grade. As to whether a Medical Exemption that is grandfathered in will transfer with a child from one school to another after 2019 within a gradespan is unclear in the law. The law is worded the same way as the grandfathering in of Personal Belief Exemptions was in 2015 with SB277. So if we interpret it the same way as CDPH did with SB277, then students will be able to transfer between checkpoints and have their exemptions transfer, regardless of what type of private or public schools they are transferring from and to.
However, the exact wording of SB276/SB714 is:
(3) Except as provided in this subdivision, on and after July 1, 2021, the governing authority shall not unconditionally admit or readmit to any of those institutions specified in this subdivision, or admit or advance any pupil to 7th grade level, unless the pupil has been immunized pursuant to Section 120335 or the parent or guardian files a medical exemption form that complies with Section 120372.
CDPH could argue that transferring to a different school could be defined as admitting the pupil to an institution, in which case the transferring of grandfathered medical exemptions would not be possible. We won’t know until they put something out that says one way or the other or schools start implementing in one way or another.
Having said that because CDPH set precedence with the grandfathered Personal Belief exemptions which used the same wording in that law, we feel we will be able to successfully argue that grandfathered Medical Exemptions will also be allowed to transfer with the child.
AVFCA Recommendation: Make sure you have a valid Medical Exemption on file with a school prior to December 31, 2019. Assuming CDPH has not published any further clarification, when asked for vaccination records by the school your child is transferring to, give them the Medical Exemption filed this year. If they say it is not valid, ask in writing why and what the requirements are, and then email us with those details. We will help you advocate for a grandfathered ME being accepted in at the school your child is transferring to.
Disclaimer: These are A Voice for Choice Advocacy’s interpretations based on the SB276/714 wording (which is very circuitous) and current xxxxxxrmation on Shots for Schools (the CDPH website regarding CA vaccination requirements) with regard to how SB277 has been implemented. There are some grey areas which are subject to interpretation and may change based on how CDPH implements it. There is no regulatory process for this law so we are subject to CDPH’s whims. They just released this question and answer document, which is very broad and does not give all the details: https://www.chhs.ca.gov/blog/2019/09/09/senate-bill-276-and-senate-bill-714-vaccinations-and-medical-exemptions-questions-and-answers/
If you found this xxxxxxrmation helpful and appreciate the work A Voice for Choice Advocacy is doing, please support us by making a donation today.
Thanks and Happy Holidays!
C
Christina Hildebrand
President/Founder
A Voice for Choice Advocacy, Inc.
www.avoiceforchoiceadvocacy.org
408 835 9353
Giving issues a voice, A Voice for Choice Advocacy advocates for people’s rights to be fully xxxxxxrmed about the composition, quality, and short- and long-term health effects of all products that go into people’s bodies, such as food, water, air, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics.
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